Oh Farmer's Market, I Love You So

This past Saturday, Nick and I finally made a trip down to the Countryside Farmers Market at Howe Meadow. This time of year, Northeast Ohio is full of neighborhood weekly farmers markets and I love it! And this was one of the best ones I've been to. It was huge, with at least 20 stands, I'd say. If you live here and aren't going to these amazing markets with locally grown produce, what's wrong with you!? Just look at all the great stuff I got this week. First up, this crazy big garlic.



It's huge, and the guy who sold it to me couldn't have been nicer, telling me how he grows it. You should see my garlic this year... it's teeny tiny. In fact, I'll show you a comparison between his and mine. My sad little garlic is on the right, obviously.



I still have some in the ground, but I'm not expecting it to get much bigger. We planted in Spring this year, which we will never do again. In fact, I never thought you could plant garlic in the Spring, but in April as we were walking through Lowe's they had packages of garlic for planting, so we decided to give it a try. Hey if Lowe's has it, it has to work right? Well no, not necessarily. So we will, from now on, be Fall garlic planters and hopefully it will be more like this one!



To much great joy, one of the stands had Italian Zucchini. Now I like all zucchini, but I particularly love this variety. It's less seedy and has more flavor. You can tell the Italian variety by it's lighter green color and the ridges that run along it.




Picked up some lovely yellow squash too.



Some of my fave Cubanelle peppers.



And just had to get some of these purple scallions.



I'd never seen them before and damn if they aren't pretty! I also picked up some blues (deep purple potatoes that I forgot to take a picture of). So all this cost me $14, with the potatoes being the most expensive at $4. Not too shabby! Support your local farmers. You won't be sorry!

Now what am I going to make with all this great stuff? Well that will have to be another blog :)

My Famous Roasted Vegetable Rice

People who know me already know this recipe. I'm often asked for it and I always give it. I have it on my catering menu and I make it quite often for Nick and myself. We love it. Using fresh vegetables works just as well, but I have discovered that using frozen works great too. I use a mixture of hearty vegetables, ones that can stand up to the roasting process. Carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash... things of this nature. This particular time I used a frozen California blend vegetable. Put them frozen, in a metal baking pan (metal works better for browning) and then drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 400 for about 40-45 minutes. Check them. You want them to be roasted, not just cooked.





While the veggies are roasting, cook your rice. I use Jasmine rice. It's such a fragrant and delicious rice. You can use something else, but I can't guarantee you that the dish will come out as well. The rice is key to the flavor. I use white or brown Jasmine and it works great with both (brown takes longer and uses more liquid, just an FYI). Melt a Tablespoon of butter in the bottom of your pan and add a cup of rice to it, and about half a cup of slivered almonds. Cook the rice and almonds in the butter for a few minutes, until you start to get a delicious nutty aroma coming from the pan. (This is brown rice, thus the browned color.. you don't want white rice to get this brown!)





Then add 2 cups of chicken stock (Kitchen Basics stock in a carton a wonderful product. It's a little more expensive than say College Inn, but it's worth it). Stir, bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer, stirring occasionally. In the summer when I have fresh herbs, I add fresh thyme. But dried works well too. You can cover the pot, but I don't find it absolutely necessary to do that.





When the rice is done, the veggies should be done as well. Add the roasted vegetables to the rice, stir and serve. Delish! And aside from a little butter, pretty darn healthy too especially if you use the brown rice!

12) Favorite vegetable? Brussel Sprouts...I swear!

No one ever believes you if you say your favorite vegetable is brussel sprouts. Most people hate them. They are the Rodney Dangerfield of the vegetable world. It's a shame too, such a bad rep for such a yummy and versatile veggie. This is one of my favorite ways to make them. Take a pound brussel sprouts and clean them, trim off any of the outer leaves that may be bruised or browned. Then slice them thinly. Now I do this with a knife so they look like shreds but you can do this with a shredder blade of a food processor too.





Heat about 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet and then add the shredded sprouts. Cook them this way for about 20 minutes. You can add more olive oil or butter if the pan seems to dry or you can add some chicken broth if you don't want to add more fat. The sprouts should end up being soft and tender, and slightly browned. When they are done, sprinkle with lemon juice and Parmesan cheese. You'll never look at brussel sprouts with contempt again!